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Monday, 16 September 2019

Different themes occupy Egypt’s talking heads last night

No particular theme or topic dominated the airwaves last night. Yesterday’s meeting of the Council of Arab Central Banks and Monetary Agencies Governors, the launch of a website for the Africa investment conference, and plans for a new program to convert mini-bus engines to dual fuel were among the highlights.

Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly’s review of economic reform during the meeting earned some airtime on Al Hayah Al Youm (watch, runtime: 2:32). We have chapter and verse in this morning’s Speed Round, below. The show hosts also took note of the launch of the official website for the “Investment for Africa” 2019 conference (watch, runtime: 5:02).

No Russians, no problem: “There are 193 countries in the world,” and Egypt has the ability to attract tourists from different places with different interests, Tourism Minister Rania Al Mashat told Al Hekaya’s Amr Adib in a chat over the phone about the return of Russian charter flights (watch, runtime: 8:14). Al Mashat, who was in Russia after attending the latest meeting of the World Tourism Organization General Assembly in St Petersburg, also spoke to Adib about the progress of tourism reform and Egypt’s PeopleToPeople campaign snagging the “best promotional movie in the Middle East” award.

Gov’t planning launch of national project to convert mini bus engines to dual fuel: Masaa DMC’s Eman El Hosary, meanwhile, picked up on yesterday's government meeting to look into the national project to equip mini- and micro-buses with dual fuel engines (watch, runtime: 1:11). The project involves a plan to convert 142k minibuses and replace 88k outdated ones, as well as build 351 natural gas stations. The fuel conversion part is expected to be complete within three years.

The plan to replace the outdated buses, meanwhile, will involve manufacturing new ones domestically. The Arab Organization for Industrialization has already approached 11 global auto companies, including Toyota, as it looks for a partner on the project. AOI is planning to have the first natgas-powered bus replace its outdated diesel fuel-powered counterpart by June 2020, AOI head Abdel Moneim Al Terras told the press.

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